Menu for Hope III: Twas the night after...

With profuse apologies to Clement Clark Moore, Pim, Helen, David, Sam, Adam, Kalyn, Alder and anyone else who thinks I've been sipping too much eggnog, baking too many cookies and soaking too many fruitcakes (24 fruitcakes and 51 dozen cookies isn't too many, is it?)

Twas the night after Pim’s joyous Menu for Hope Three,
A giving event for the U-N-W-F-P.
The prizes were posted on blogs far and near,
In hopes that from readers, donors would appear.

Asia Pacific, hosted by Grab Your Fork,
Whose Helen sorted honey and vouchers and more.
From peppercorns to vodka, from books to a Zen,
If she found time to sleep, I do not know when.

David was there for Europe and U-K,
On davidlebovitz.com we all did stay.
Gifties from Italia, Hungry and of course France,
For all those prizes, we all want a chance.

On the American West Coast, Sam kept tab
On Becks and Posh, she created a post fab.
When, what to our wondering eyes should appear,
A tea with Harold McGee and macaroons so dear.

With a lively, dear Foodie, for U-S-A (East Coast),
To Adam, The Amateur Gourmet we raise a toast.
He cared for prizes, each ticket $10 was paid,
for a painting, a catered lunch, or a Kitchenaid.

And for the rest of America so vast,
Was Kalyn, in Kalyn’s Kitchen, prizes she amassed
Turkish hot pepper and cook’ry books galore,
Even to be an Honor’y lamb owner.

For wines white and red, our winebloggers did fly,
To Alder at vinography, where prizes we did eye:
Eric Asimov and private sommeliers,
Wine guides and tours and romantic getaways.

And then, for Canucks, I did my very best
On Confessions of a Cardamom Addict.
Autographed cookbooks and things from Halifax,
Along with all that chocolate, were things in sweet packs.

For eleven days we watched firstgiving.com,
In hopes that this campaign soon would catch on.
And catch on it did, to our overwhelming glee.
As the total grew, it was a lovely sight to see.

Our eyes-how they twinkled! Our dimples how merry!
Our cheeks were like roses, not because of sherry!*
All of our mouths were drawn right up like bows,
We were all pleased with how well our prizes did show.

"Now a hundred, now a few more! Now a thousand grew!
On, Books! On, foods! on, on dinners and a ewe!
To ten thousand! Then twenty, then thirty and more!
Now dash away forty! Dash away all!"

Pim sprang to her keyboard, to us gave a whistle,
And her fingers all flew like the down of a thistle.
We heard her exclaim, with many thanks a-plenty,
"$58, 256.70”

*really, they weren’t…mine were rosy because of brandy…can’t say about the others.

All cheekiness aside: A great big thank you to all of our prize donors, those who helped publicize the event, people who contributed to the campaign and everyone else who supported Menu for Hope III. Our event was incredibly successful and it couldn't have been done without each and every single one of you.

I'm taking a short break, but intend to be back before the New Year.

All the best to you and yours for a happy and healthy holiday.

Edit: 29 Dec 06 - Just opened a note from Pim. Due to a couple of things (donations processing, a very generous donation by a friend and a one per cent donation from firstgiving.com) our total amount raised $60,925.12. Yay you!

jasmine

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